Singer & Actress Whitney Houston Dies, Aged 48

American singer and actress Whitney Houston has sadly died, aged just 48. Police say she was found unconscious in her hotel room at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles where she had been staying as a guest, and was pronounced dead at 3:55pm (11.55pm GMT). Fire department personnel and hotel staff tried in vain to resuscitate her before the police arrived. No reasons for her death has yet been disclosed but police have said there was "no obvious signs of criminal intent" and that "She has been positively identified by friends and family that were with her at the hotel, and next of kin have already been notified." Though her death has surprised but probably not shocked many, much like the fall of Amy Winehouse last year, Houston was always seen as going that way and she had struggled to overcome her substance abuse problems for years. BBC News described her as "one of the most celebrated female singers of all time" and certainly the mega-selling track 'I Will Always Love You' brought her more acclaim and record sales than few very in her profession ever achieve. She sold more than 170 million albums in her lifetime with stand out hits including 'I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)' and 'Saving All My Love For You', although 'I Will Always Love You' was her most famous track. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QaI-M9sxW4&feature=player_embedded The song was a cover of a Dolly Parton record from 'The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas' and was the signature track of The Bodyguard, a $410.9 million worldwide grossing romance thriller (and HUGE seller on home video) that was almost unbelievably the second biggest film in the world in 1992. That was Houston's first ever film role where she played basically a variation of herself, a massive pop superstar who is being stalked and sent death threats and Kevin Costner's former Ronald Reagan staffer bodyguard is hired to protect her. She would only star in three other movies; 1995's Waiting to Exhale and opposite Denzel Washington in 1996's The Preacher's Wife, where she had a leading role in both and a movie she shot last year 'Sparkle', a Salim Akil directed film about "three sisters a successful singing group and must deal with the fallout of fame and drugs." and that has an August release date from Tristar in the US, and a release in October in the UK. In later life, frequent news reports and footage of the effects of Houston's substance abuse and the impact it was having on her voice, career and life became an all too sad affair. Her tempestuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown, with whom she had a daughter, ended in divorce in 2007 and was marred by stories of domestic violence. Houston's sad passing comes on the eve of the Grammy Awards where Houston performed last year and was tipped to make a performance Sunday night. The L.A. Times writer Gerrick D. Kennedy writes;

"The Hilton is the scene for Clive Davis€™ . On Thursday, Houston dropped by the rehearsals to offer vocal tips for Brandy and Monica, who were slated to be one of the evening€™s headliners. Press, including The Times, were in attendance for a junket with the reunited R&B divas and Davis. Though Houston greeted people her with a warm smile, she appeared disheveled in mismatched clothes and hair that was dripping wet with either sweat or water. The visibly bloated singer displayed erratic behavior throughout the afternoon -- flailing her hands frenetically as she spoke to Brandy and Monica, skipping around the ballroom in a child-like fashion and wandering aimlessly about the lobby. It was mentioned by a Grammy staffer that security personnel received calls of the singer doing handstands by the pool. After leaving rehearsals, Houston returned to the ballroom -- with her teenage daughter Bobbi Kristina in tow -- as camera crews set up for interviews. The singer smelled of alcohol and cigarettes.